Brittany Shyne on Her Doc ‘Seeds’ and Paying Homage to the Legacy of Black Farmers in the American South

variety.com:

Shayeza Walid With an agrarian lineage, Brittany Shyne always knew she wanted to make a film about Black land ownership, so she made “Seeds,” her doc feature debut that premieres Jan.

25 in the U.S Documentary Competition at Sundance. Shyne originally developed the subject as her MFA thesis film, “Seeds” follows the everyday life of Black generational farmers, and explores the legacy of the declining community in the American South.

Shot fully in black and white, “Seeds” weaves together vignettes of farm life for multiple aging farmers and their families — depicting the slow pace and communal beauty of agricultural living, but also the deep economic injustice black farmers have historically faced and continue to today. “Black farm life is often thought of as a place of strife or discord,” says Shyne. “But I wanted to illustrate that it’s also something that’s harmonious through the generations of these farming family members.

I wanted to show the fact that these black farmers have been adaptive and resourceful for all their lives, even with historical barriers in place.